RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Rensselaer County >> Potter Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Potter Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Potter Hill and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Potter Hill:
    • 42.845443, -73.394161
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Potter Hill
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Rensselaer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rensselaer County
    • Since Potter Hill is near Bennington County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bennington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Potter Hill

Communities Also Named Potter Hill ...

We found two communities that are also named Potter Hill.

Within New York, the name Potter Hill is unique.

Beyond New York, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • This Potter Hill lies 3,264 miles [5,252.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Potter Hill that is located in Rensselaer County.
    • Rhode Island
      • Washington County
      • This Potter Hill is located in Washington County and lies 128 miles [206 km]<1> to the southeast of the Potter Hill that is located in Rensselaer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Potter Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Potter Hill ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

How Far From Potter Hill to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Potter Hill to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Potter Hill and extending to:

  • Troy, which is the Seat of Rensselaer County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Potter Hill to Troy, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest (SW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 332 miles [534.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,582 miles [8,983.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,296 miles [10,132.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,171 miles [6,712.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Potter Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Potter Hill to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Potter Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8454, Longitude: -73.3942    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.32 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.164 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.394 degrees.